I wish my mind was a camera and every time I saw something worth taking a photo of I could. I could then put them all into a computer like a normal camera and they would never fade like memories do. I see some many things here that I wish I could capture like the old, wrinkled woman wearing a hot pink sari leaning over he balcony this morning. Or the place that I pass on my way to school where all the people hang all of their laundry together by color coordination.
Yesterday (Monday) was just another day at school. It was the start of my first full week of school. It was the birthday of a friend, Mansi, who is in my class. Because it was her birthday she was allowed to dress out of uniform and she brought in a ton of chocolates for everyone. I had my first Hindi conversation class and I can now tell people my parents names and ask for people's parent's or sister's names!
School is still kind of overwhelming but everyone is really nice and I feel more comfortable there. My favorite classes are Hindi and English. I also look forwards to sports every afternoon when we play basketball. The sports teachers don't speak much English but they are still very fun and funny to play with... the only downfall is playing in the heat in jeans...
We also had the first really big rainfall since I've been here yesterday. The news says that several inches fell in one hour. It was very cool to be in. I was on the bus when it started and had to walk home from the bus stop in it (not very far). The rain was cool and refreshing and left the air feeling that way for the rest of the night.
Also last night I finally got a cell phone to use here (or a "mobile" as they're called here). My host sister Nikita was unimpressed with my choice, but it was th cheapest simplest phone I could get that still had everything I needed. Nikita would have had me get an I-phone or something similar, but, as I told her, I only need it for a year.
Today was rather uneventful. School was a pretty relaxing schedule and everyone seemed to be in very good moods.
I've been invited by a girl at school to a birthday party tomorrow after school! Most of the girls in the class are invited..

SAT and SUN (I added pictures)

Yesterday school was pretty good. The basketball at the end of the day was lots of fun, the sports teachers don't really speak English but they are very funny despite that.
In Hindi class the teacher brought in tools that she uses for the little kids she teaches I was kind of fun tracing the letters and stuff, plus it really does help.
School though, is really tiring for me still, all the Hindi and chaos
Today the other exchange students and I went to a Rotary picnic. We spent the day hanging out. It was lots of FUN. We spent the day taking pictures, fooling around in paddle boats, swimming in the pool, and eating lots of candy...
The picnic was at a resort. it was very pretty and reminded much of a tropical resort.... It was bizzarre though because right up to the gates it was normal India, cars, cows, people, etc.... But right through the gates, it was manicured lawns and waterfalls. Even then though, there was still and air of Indian city in the cleanliness and the grounds.
I have to go do homework for school tomorrow...

The Resort, a path by the pond.

The Resort.

Hannah, we were on one of those two person swings where you face each other.

The "figure head" of our paddle boat.

The guys,  paddling the boat. (Jordan from near Bend, Oregon, U.S.A is left and Nikolas from Germany is right)

Sebastian attempting to swing on the zip line into the boat (didn't work so well...)

The Guys. From left, Jordan (U.S.), Nikolas (Germany), and Sebastian (Colombia).

DAY 7 (actually)

Today I just had school... Nothing exciting. I'm becoming closer to the girls in my class and other older kids, not in my class are have started talking to me... They're all so.. .awed to have foreigner in their school. It's the school's first time with exchange students... I have SO much more work to catch up on (fun, fun , fun) AND we have school in Saturday (yuck). Other than that though everything is great, the family, food etc...

Day 7 (First full day of school)

This morning I woke bright and early (actually too early because of jetlag) and got ready for school. Last night my host parents and I went shopping for uniform clothes. It was hard to find plain white polos as the school dress code dictates and loose jeans the weren't too loose but not too tight, as the woman at school described to me. Anyway I managed to find stuff for pretty cheap (I don't know excatly how many dollars...)
So this morning I took the bus to school. In the morning the bus goes to the little kids (like pre-school aged) school first. There were to VERY cute little kids on the bus.
School was... school. Kind of hectic and I still have not been given a schedule so I have to rely on other people to know what I have when. English seems like it's going to be easy, but simply because I like it. I also had triple chem. I might be totally in over my head there, as they have the periodic table memorized and can list of numbers of valence electrons and such like crazy... I'm also pretty far behind in the text book. The kids in my class have been taking chemistry for the past 4 years or so....
The girls in the class are very nice and want to invite me to do something this weekend if everyone is free. The boys have still yet to speak to me, it's kind of weird how the girls barley speak to the boys and visa versa... it's just another cultural thing...
The food at the school is not so good. Even the student complain a lot about it, part of the issue is that you are served a certain amount and can't talk or leave the table until you do. Today for snack there has something, I don't know what it was, that everyone had to force down.
The younger kids at school are very cute, they all want to speak to Nikolas and I. One girl asked me "From where did you appear?" They want "autographs" from us and the girls all like to wave at me and say "Hello Kelsey didi!" The same goes for Nikolas and the boys. I hope they get over it though because I have a feeling it might get old quickly.
I have a ton of work to do to catch up for the month of school I've missed but instead of working as soon as I got home I played with my younger host sister, Nimisha, who has taken to calling me "Kelsey di" (di is short for did which means sister). She says it would be too confusing to call me didi, as she does Nikkita because now she has two didis...

Festival, Day 6

Today there is no school as it is a festival. It is a day for brothers to celebrate sisters and visa versa. We spent the morning driving around the city to relatives houses. At each house we there was a little ceremony of exchanged gifts and bracelets were tied on our wrists and paint put on our foreheads. Of course there was food too... It was very cool to see different parts of the city. We went to old Indore and visited Aalok's (my father) brother who lives in a house that's 100 years old and very traditional. everyone was very tired by the time we reached home and we've been relaxing since. Later we have to go out and find a store that is open where I can buy white t-shirts and loose fitting blue jeans for my school uniform. As it's a festival that may be difficult.

I saw my first elephant being ridden though the street today! As well boars, cows, dogs, and goats...

Nimisha in "traditionals" or the festival.

We had to sit facing east.

Tying on the raki (spelling?)

Days 4 and 5

OOPS I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post...
Well, Sunday I went to a Rotaract meeting (Rotaract is a branch of Rotary for young adults before they are actually Rotarians). It was a big meeting with a blood draw too! I won't say anything about the set up of the blood draw.. Anyways we were supposed to be presented to the group as exchange students at 1:30ish (the event started at 9:30) By 2:30, in true Indian fashion, they were no where near us in the program so they let us skip head. The meeting may have been very interesting if I could have understood all that was happening but I did not. It was still very interesting for the most part.... It's funny because people would be speaking in Hindi and then suddenly through in a random English word, some very obscure.
At the meeting I did get to know the other exchange students better. I also met the other girl from the U.S., she's living in Bhopal and is from WA. That evening we went out to a Cafe for dinner. It's funny because even though I'm living in a city, for safety reasons we all have to be driven and dropped off places like at home, especially Hannah (the girl from Germany who's living in Indore) and I because we are girls.
Yesterday, in the late morning I was taken to my school, Progressive, and signed up for classes. By the time I had everything settled it was noon so I stayed for the rest of the day. There are 15 people in my class (11th standard, it's called) One girls was asked to let me shadow her for the day. I sat through "detention" (study hall), english, and then had a Hindi class with just me ans the other exchange student in the school, Nikolas from Germnay. Then Nikolas and I had basketball together with like 3 sports teachers.
I was feeling very sick all day yesterday from something I had eaten on Sunday but when I was running around plying basketball, I felt \so much better, it was probably the adrenaline. I was also exhausted by midday but during sports I felt fine. After however, on the bus ride home, I almost fell asleep. I did fall asleep as soon as I got home at 4:30 and slept for the rest of the day and night. The jetlag, food, and language made me more mentally and physically tired than I think I have ever been in my life!!!

A traditional dance was preformed at the beginning of the meeting.

Arrival

Yesterday I arrived around 8:30ish in the morning and was met at the airport by a large number of people who gave me flower garlands and such. I then slept A LOT. My host family is very nice. The father is a factory owner and the mother makes and designs bed spreads, quilts, pillow covers etc. The girls are 14 and 11 the oldest is named Nikita ( a name that always makes me smile because of the movie we watch in French class). There are also the father's grandparents who either do not speak English or don't want to. There seems to be very little privacy especially because I'm sharing a room with the girls even though they are very private people if that makes sense.

Yesterday I took a bath which consisted of a bucket of hat water and a pitcher in the bathroom with a drain in the floor. I still managed to feel fairly clean afterwards. I have very little space and am still sort of living out of a suitcase all though the girls are going to clear off shelf space for me. The younger on (whose name i cannot spell) LOVES to play board games and so I have done a lot of that with her. 

Nikita took me to a Bollywood movie today (all in Hindi) I sort of got the plot line but not all of it. It was still fun to watch. We ate lunch at a McDonalds but all veggitarian so I had Nikita order for me. I still don't know exactly what I ate. 

I then went to a Rotary orientation where I met the other area exchange students there is a boy and girl from Germany, another boy and girl from America, and a boy from Colombia. We have to go to a Rotary meeting tomorrow and I have to think of something to say...

I wish I were taking more pictures but it is hard to always have the camera out at the right time. Like this morning when a cow wandered into the garage type space and was heading for  the garden to eat...

I gave the girls Silly Bands as gifts, the other exchange students were interested in them too. It's a silly little fashion but people like them so... 

It's funny, the kids have no chores here other than putting their things away. The maids do everything for them. There are also no meal times especially on the weekends, everyone just eats when they want. Speaking of eating, apparently I don;t do enough of it because everyone is always asking if I want more and "here have some of this and some of that" When asked if I was hungry yesterday I said "not really " and was promptly told that in India there is no such thing as not really hungry.

As it is monsoon season there has been a good bit of rain which has pluses and minuses. The rain cools everything down but it also brings out the smell of the streets. 

I hope to post pictures soon!

arrived!!

THIS IS JUST A COPY OF THE EMAIL I SENT TO MY FAMILY
I will add more when i have time later....
Hey all!

Everything went smoothly getting over here. The night in the Mumbai airport was hard because i got very little sleep. I met two german girls who were also flying to indore. They are traveling after finishing highschool. i was met with a full reception of rittu grover, my host father, another exchange student from colombia, my counsler, and the doctor who i was supposed to saty with. Ipshita (my original host sister) has to suddenly take 4 exams and would not be at home during the day and as her parents are doctors there would be no one home from 7 am to 11 pm. so i am now staying with another family who are very nice. There are 2 girls (14 and 11). the father owns a factory and the mother makes bed spreads and quilts and such! the father's parents also live here. I will be with this family for a month or so.

so far everyone is very nice

as i was saying, i was met by a lot of people at the airport with flower garlands and roses there were lots of pictures taken and such!

we drove from the airport to here. it was very cool! India is So different! the streets we went through are very much like you you would imagine, the cows, the dogs, the people, and bikes, and motorcycles. no one cares about lanes and which side of the road you're on the one thing that rules the road is car horns. they never seem to stop. there are so many people in all kinds of dress and homes. i have not taken any pictures but i really want to!!!

the room that i'm sharing is very nice there is a balcony onto the street. i still feel kind of in a daze.

i'm going to update my blog with very similar stuff later...

i have yet to take a shower to that is VERY high on my agenda for this evening...

i don't know what else to say but i'm sure i will think 

of something later...

i've been writing a lot in a journal so that i can remember it all....

love, 

kelsey

ALL PACKED!
Now all I have to do is leave. I can't believe I'm leaving TODAY!
This is crazy! My plane leaves at 4:50 today but I don't get to India until Friday.
Don't forget the 9.5 hour time difference and 15 hour plane ride... FUN!
It's all an adventure...
Right now it's noon so there it's like 9:30 pm already!!
I'm spending the night in the Mumbai airport which'll be interesting...
I'll update when I can but I don't know about internet access and I'm still trying to figure out the whole blog thing....

Leaving!

I can't believe I'm leaving the day after tomorrow.
I have nothing to to yet everything to do in the next day or so.
I want to see everyone and say goodbye but I also have to pack, and do a billion things before I leave.
Like try to start a blog, this is sort of a test post, I'm currently playing around with how everything works. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this for my whole exchange but we'll see....